Friday, December 27, 2013

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

We were in a different sorta mood today so we defined a new station on meTunes Radio for today's Happy Hour soundtrack... specifically George Gershwin radio. And it's surprised, we were. Take a look at the (abbreviated) playlist:

That's a pretty eclectic playlist and it's heavy on almost everything EXCEPT Gershwin. But... that said... Ravel's Bolero? On synthesizers? WTF? It was weird, true, but not as weird as one might think. But, that said (yet again), the tune got me to thinkin'. Most American males of a certain age immediately, if not sooner, associate Bolero with this:Yeah, I have to admit I do, too. I think sales of Bolero went right thru the roof after the movie "10" was released. That wasn't me, however. I bootlegged my copy from an Air Force lending library some years later, but the first time I heard the piece was at home when I was a tender lad at my mother's knee. Today we went right out and ran down a full performance o' the piece... just for old time's sake. And here it is:Beautiful, innit? And Bo Derek's character in "10" was absolutely correct: it's great music for doin' the deal. DAMHIK.

6 comments:

I had a blog post on 'Music to Make Love By', once upon a time, but my wife asked me (ever-so-sweetly) to take it down (and one does NOT cross one's wife when it comes to anything that pertains to the Sweet Lovin'; at least, I never do)

But I do recall that Bolero got a mention. There's no denying that it's an incredibly erotic piece of music, but in my experience (um, yes, I have experience; and I never even saw '10'), the rhythm is very insistent, and I felt like it got in the way when a, uh, change in tempo was desired. YMMV (and evidently, did). . .

I remember the movie, and Bo really wasn't in a lot of scenes, not to rate the coverage. To tell the truth I don't like any kind of music during, before, or after. One scene I remember though was when Bo said she was stuck, and Dudley tries to calm her fears. I'm giggling right now again...

In college I had an older upper-classman fraternity brother who insisted the Bolero was the only way to go (years before "10") and a sure guarantee of success. It was the first this naive kid from the farmland of E. Central Illinois had ever heard of it, lol.